On the rise and online: Female consumers in Asia

On the rise and online
Female consumers in Asia
An Economist Intelligence Unit report
Commissioned by

1© The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited 2014
On the rise and online: Female consumers in Asia
Contents
Preface 2
Executive summary 3
Introduction 6
1. Changing demographics, control over purse strings 8
2. The shifting nature of retail 13
3. How women buy 18
4. Global vs local 23
5. Connecting with the new Asian female consumer 25
6. Barriers ahead? 29
Conclusion: What does the future of retail look like? 30

2 © The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited 2014
On the rise and online: Female consumers in
Asia, is an Economist Intelligence Unit report,
commissioned by VIPSHOP. The EIU conducted the
survey and interviews independently and wrote
the report. Jonathan Hopfner and Liana Cafolla
were the authors. Laurel West was the editor.
Gaddi Tam was responsible for layout.
The findings and views expressed here are those
of The EIU alone and do not necessarily reflect the
views of the commissioning organisation.
We would like to thank all survey respondents and
the following interviewees (listed alphabetically)
for their time and insights:
l Maximilian Bittner, CEO, Lazada Group
l Hyon-Ju Cho, vice president and team leader,
marketing service team, Samsung Electronics
l Elisabeth de Gramont, group account director,
Jigsaw Communispace
l Jodie Ding, senior analyst, iResearch
l Linda Du, Shanghai managing director, APCO
Worldwide
l Devangshu Dutta, chief executive, Third
Eyesight
Preface
l Andreas Faahs, CMO and vice president,
Amway Japan
l Leta Hong Fincher, author
l Andrew Keith, president, Lane Crawford
l Alice Lau, CEO, Le Saunda
l Kamal Nandi, executive vice president and
business head, Godrej Appliances
l Roopa Purushothaman, managing director and
head of research, Everstone Capital Advisors
l Arvind Singhal, chairman , Technopak Advisors
l Torsten Stocker, partner, consumer goods
retail, AT Kearney
l Lixia Tan, senior vice president and CFO, Haier
l Lavinia Tong, marketing director, Diageo China
l Tong-yi Mao, China general manager, GRI
Group
l Iris Xuan, brand direction manager, SK-II
China

Asia’s rapidly growing consumer markets are
the great hope of many companies across the
world. In 2015, retail sales in Asia are forecast
to grow by an average 4.6% on a volume basis,
to US$7.6trn1
). This compares with 2.5% in
North America and 0.8% in Europe, according to
Economist Intelligence Unit forecasts. Behind
this broader trend is one that is rapidly coming
to the attention of brand owners and retailers:
the rising independence and economic power of
Asia’s women. While controlling an increasing
amount of household purchasing decisions,
women are also showing a passion for online
shopping. This report is aimed at providing
insights on how women’s purchasing power is
increasing, and in particular how women are
driving e-commerce in Asia. It is based on an
extensive survey of 5,500 women across major
cities in Greater China, India, Japan, Singapore
and South Korea, as well as input from consumer
analysts and major retailers and brand owners
themselves.
Among the key findings:
l Women in Asia’s major cities are increasingly
empowered. Region-wide, 43% of the women
responding to our survey were in managerial,
executive or professional services jobs.
Most were contributing to their household
income—8% described themselves as sole
breadwinners and 41% said they were joint
breadwinners. The trend is particularly notable
in mainland China, where 62% described
themselves as joint breadwinners.
l Women are showing increasing
independence in handling their finances.
Just over two-thirds reported having their
own bank accounts (this ranged from 76% in
mainland China, to a low of 47% in Macau),
and 48% held their own credit cards. Most are
in charge of budgeting decisions on groceries,
clothing and accessories, and children’s
products, and are at least co-decision
makers in most other product categories like
electronics and travel services. In terms of who
pays, 35% of women said they paid for their
own online purchases, while 15% said they
paid for their partners’ purchases as well.
l Women are driving the growth of online
shopping in the region, with many preferring
it to offline. Among survey respondents,
63% browse the Internet at least once a day
for products and services, with nearly 30%
doing so twice or more per day. Just under
80% of women regionally buy some groceries
online (just over 20% buy the majority of their
groceries online); the figure rises to 83%
for cosmetics and nearly 90% for clothing
and accessories (29% of women make the
majority of their cosmetics purchases online
with the figure rising to 39% for clothing
Executive
summary
1
Based on nominal US$ sales

and accessories). Perhaps most troubling for
retailers focused on the brick-and-mortar
business, nearly half—49%—of women polled
agreed or strongly agreed that they preferred
the experience of shopping online to doing
so in stores. The figure was as high as 69% in
mainland China. Notable outliers include Hong
Kong, Singapore and especially Japan, where
only 18% of women said they preferred online
shopping to shopping in stores—the lowest
rate in the region. This no doubt reflects the
highly developed retail markets in these places.
l At least on the Internet, many Asian women
don’t seem to be living up to the stereotype
of selfless, family-focused individuals. Over
62% of women are buying for themselves most
of the time when shopping online; in mainland
China that rate rises to 74%, and to 77%
among 18-29 year olds. Women do, however,
engage in guilt shopping; 41% said they would
buy something for their partner, children or
family when they feel they have bought too
much for themselves. That figure rises to 67%
among women in mainland China.
l Women say online shops are cheaper, more
reliably stocked, and offer a less stressful
shopping environment. Women have a variety
of reasons to prefer online shopping. Most
point to cost (62%) and time savings (60%),
but they also feel that online retailers can be
relied upon to have the products they want to
buy (59%) and they appreciate the range of
choice online shopping offers (56%). Online
shopping is also more relaxing. Across the
region, nearly half (48%) of women say they
feel pressured and stressed in traditional
shops, and 27% feel store staff talk down to
them because they are women.
l The online shopping craze offers
opportunities for cross-border trade for
brands and retailers, but they need to work
on logistics. Regionally 36% of women agreed
or strongly agreed that they shop online
specifically to get products from overseas, and
41% said they bought products from abroad
because they were better than those produced
domestically—with the figure rising to 45%
among those aged 18-29. This perceived
quality gap was especially pronounced in
Macau and mainland China, where 53% and
63% of women respectively saw products
from abroad as superior. Analysts say this is
partially a result of the safety problems that
have plagued China’s supply chain at regular
intervals in recent years, but also points
to the challenges faced by local brands in
winning over increasingly demanding Chinese
consumers. However the taste for imports is
not universal—South Korean and Japanese
women remain highly loyal to local brands.
Moreover, regionally, 64% of women agreed
or strongly agreed that delivery times were a
concern when making purchases from abroad,
and 66% were concerned about delivery costs.
l Mobility in online shopping also means
women are increasingly shopping anywhere
and everywhere, and online retailers will
need to have a strong mobile interface.
Perhaps of interest to some of the region’s
employers, 28% of women say they shop
online via PCs at work—with the figure rising
to 40% in mainland China, where 20% also
use their smartphones to shop at work. Just
under 30% also say they shop online in bed
at night. Home is still the favoured place to
shop, with 78% using a PC at home, 45% using
smartphones and 25% using tablets.
l Women want personal service. According to
our survey, women are attracted to retailers
that build accurate customer profiles and
target communications accordingly—64% of
women found this appealing—as well as reward
them for loyalty (61%). These are seen as far
more effective ways for online retailers/brands
to attract traffic than traditional marketing
tools such as advertisements and newsletters
(45%).

l Getting the messaging right will be tricky.
Given their rising economic power, one
might reasonably expect women to be more
attracted to messaging that appeals to their
rising independence. The reality is more
complicated. While messages that address
them as independent, intelligent consumers
were found to be appealing by 56% of women,
nearly the same percentage (54%) said they
found messages addressing them as wives,
mothers or girlfriends to be attractive.
Successful messaging will no doubt be that
which somehow manages to marry the two,
and will depend on the product in question.
l The future of online shopping looks mobile,
and impulsive. Many of the trends identified
in our research are driven by younger women,
suggesting that the move toward online
shopping in general, the shift to shopping
on mobile devices and the preference for
being addressed on a personal level are likely
to intensify. For example, the percentage
who prefer shopping online climbed to 53%
among the youngest (18-29) demographic
surveyed (compared to 49% overall). In this
age range, 58% of women shop online with
their smartphones at home, versus 38% of
40-49 year olds. Similarly, 58% of women
18-29 found communications that respected
them as independent, intelligent consumers
appealing or strongly appealing, compared
to 53% of women 40-49. While overall some
43% reported spending more money online
than they do in physical shops, again the
rates among those 18-29 were even higher
(56%). This may be connected to the typical
lack of youthful restraint; over half of women
18-29 agreed that they were more likely to buy
impulsively online, versus around 40% of older
women. But habits, once entrenched, usually
do not change much.

Asia has produced no shortage of compelling
growth stories over the past decade, and the
region certainly has more in store. Investors
and companies are now looking to consumers
in the emerging economies of Southeast Asia as
they seek to diversify beyond BRICS giants China
and India. But in the hunt for the continent’s
next growth engines, they may do better not to
think in terms of markets, but demographics—
specifically, Asia’s women. Long an untapped
resource in regional labour markets, women
are increasingly employed, independent and
prosperous, and they are poised to be one of the
leading drivers of spending in the years ahead.
Rising female labour participation and incomes
have coincided with a profound transformation of
the retail landscape. Online shopping is gaining
traction worldwide, but in Asia its rise has been
Introduction
nothing short of meteoric; the region is set to
displace North America as the world’s largest
e-commerce market this year. There are multiple
reasons for online shopping’s success. First, it is
convenient, frequently bringing goods to even
remote doorsteps. Second, it increases choice,
giving consumers access to products beyond
national borders. And third, as our research and
this paper will show, e-commerce has struck a
chord with Asia’s female consumers. Despite their
diversity in terms of income levels, habits and
cultural preferences, overall women throughout
Asia are enthusiastic proponents of online retail,
with many preferring it to traditional brick-and-
mortar stores for a variety of reasons.
For many traditional retailers, this will present
challenges and require shifts in strategy.
Connections with female shoppers will
increasingly have to be forged in the online
environment, and consumers will have more
options than ever. At the same time, online
shopping also represents a major opportunity.
Constant generation of data will allow vendors
unprecedented visibility into the behaviour and
tastes of their customer base; online platforms
will provide a possible way around some of the
costs and space limitations associated with
physical storefronts.
Based on an extensive survey of 5,500 women
throughout the region, as well as input from
Retail sales (US$trn), volume growth
Latin America
Asia and Australasia
Western Europe
North America
Middle East and africa
Asia as number one
4.3
3.2
7.6
1.5
0.6
Source: The Economist Intelligence Unit
2.5%
0.8%
4.6%
2.4%
2.9%

consumer analysts and major retailers and brand
owners themselves, this paper provides insights
into women’s preferences and aspirations
and how these could evolve. It suggests how
companies will need to respond to the emergence
of more empowered female consumers,
particularly in the online environment.

Much of the rise in women’s spending power can
be traced back to a common cause: more Asian
women joining the workforce, and at more senior
levels. While women have traditionally been
underrepresented in the Asian workplace, recent
trends have been encouraging. Women held 29%
of senior management positions in Asia by 2013,
a higher rate than in North America and Europe2
.
In mainland China alone, women’s average
Changing demographics, control over
purse strings1
contribution to household income has jumped to
50% from just 20% in 19803
.
The results of our survey reflect these changes.
The sampling for the survey mirrored the urban
female population between the ages of 18 and 60
in select Asian countries* in 2014 in terms of age,
marital status, number of children and income.4
2
Grant Thornton, Women in
business, from classroom to
boardroom, March 2014
3
Nielsen, A Battle of the
Sexes Plays Out in Shopping
Aisles, March 2014
4
The survey covered
mainland China (Beijing,
Changsha, Chengdu,
Guangzhou and Shanghai),
India (Bangalore, Chennai,
Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai,
Pune), Hong Kong, Japan
(Kanto, Kinki), Macau,
Singapore, South Korea
(Gyeonggi, Seoul) and
Taiwan. Respondents were
also screened to exclude
those who do not have an
Internet connection.
Breadwinners, not bakers
Overall, 83% of urban adult women contribute
to household income
(% respondents)
Women’s rising economic power in Asia
Partner is sole
breadwinner
Live with family
and share expenses
Sole breadwinners
Partner is main
breadwinner
Joint
breadwinners
Other
15%
41%
10%
19%
8%
8%
Note: Figures may not total 100% due to rounding.
Mainland China
Overall, 91% of urban adult women contribute to
household income
(% respondents)
Partner is sole
breadwinner
Live with family
and share expenses
Sole breadwinners
Earn, but partner
is main breadwinner
Joint
breadwinners
Other
9%
62%
9%
11%
8%
1%
Japan
Overall, 63% of urban adult women contribute to
household income
(% respondents)
Partner is
sole breadwinner
Live with family
and share expenses
Sole breadwinners
Earn, but
partner is main
breadwinner
Joint
breadwinnersOther
24%
19%14%
25%
17%
2%

Region-wide, 43% of the women responding
were in managerial, executive or professional
services jobs. Most were contributing to their
household income—8% described themselves as
sole breadwinners and 41% said they were joint
breadwinners, while another 19% reported that
they had some income, though their partner was
the main breadwinner.
More importantly, beyond simply contributing to
the family kitty, women are showing increasing
independence in handling their finances. Just
over two-thirds reported having their own bank
accounts (this ranged from 76% in mainland
China, to a low of 47% in Macau), and 48% held
their own credit cards. Most are in charge of
budgeting decisions on groceries, clothing and
accessories, cosmetics and children’s products,
and are at least co-decision makers in most other
product categories like electronics and travel
services. Women in mainland China seem to have
a particularly large say in household spending
a majority also control household budgets for
electronics and travel purchases.
Bank accounts
Regionally, 67% of women have their own bank accounts
(% respondents)
Japan
India
Hong Kong
Mainland China
South Korea
Taiwan
Singapore
Macau
Financially independent
76%
66%
65%
65%
61%
60%
58%
47%
Credit cards
Regionally, 48% of women have their own credit cards
(% respondents)
Taiwan
South Korea
Japan
Mainland China
Hong Kong
India
Singapore
Macau
53%
52%
52%
49%
48%
37%
35%
30%

Who is in charge of the household budget for?
(% respondents)
Household buying decisions
My partner/family
decides
Other
I decide
My partner/family
and I decide together
10%
5%
18%
67% My partner/family
decides
Other I decide
My partner/family
10%
2%
15%
73%
Groceries Clothing and accessories
My partner/family
decides
Other
I decide
My partner/family
10%
7%
decides
Other I decide
My partner/family
10%
52%
31%
Cosmetics Furniture
2%
7%
My partner/family
decides
Other
I decide
My partner/family
10%
35%
decides
Other I decide
My partner/family
10%
12%
57%
Home products and furnishings Maternity and children’s products
5%
2%
My partner/family
decides
Other
I decide
My partner/family
10%
51%
decides
Other I decide
My partner/family
10%
49%
32%
Travel and leisure Electronics
5%
9%

Especially in mainland China’s upper-tier
cities, women tend to contribute to household
finances “with their own disposable income,
which they have control over,” says Elisabeth de
Gramont, group account director at Shanghai-
based consumer insights company Jigsaw
Communispace. Even women in smaller cities,
“although they might be earning less than their
husbands, are spending on their own expenses.”
Some, however, caution that financial
independence among women in mainland China
does not necessarily equate to financial security,
pointing out that Chinese women’s control over
some aspects of household spending may be
influenced by cultural factors, and more apparent
than actual.
“There’s this norm that men are supposed to own
the home … (while) women and women’s families
are supposed to be responsible for renovating the
home,” says Leta Hong Fincher, author of Leftover
Women: The Resurgence of Gender Inequality in
China. “That means purchasing all of the furniture
and fixtures for the house. So certainly from that
perspective, yes, women are generally going to be
the ones who are going to the stores and choosing
things like curtains and lighting fixtures,
appliances, for the home. That does not mean that
they’re empowered—on the contrary, their money
is being frittered away on all of these things that
depreciate in value over time, while the men’s
money is invested in an appreciating asset.”
In Macau, Singapore and India, women reported
having a comparatively smaller role in household
budgeting decisions than their counterparts
in other countries, but were still the clear
authorities in areas like clothes and cosmetics.
According to Roopa Purushothaman, managing
director and head of research for India-focused
investment manager Everstone Capital Advisors,
“Definitely for household (items) including
food, it goes to the women on that front … if you
look at bigger one-ticket items, like cars, those
decisions are typically made by the male head of
the household.”
Even in areas where women say budgeting
decisions are made jointly with, or controlled by,
their partners, their impact may be understated.
Just 30% of women in India, for example, say
they are in charge of the household budget for
electronics, but domestic appliance retailers
like Godrej say they still strive to communicate
equally to both male and female customers.
% of women who make purchasing decisions, by category
Furniture
Cosmetics
Clothing and accessories
Groceries
Home products and furnishings
Maternity and children’s products
Travel and leisure
Electronics
Women of influence in mainland China
86%
79%
78%
70%
63%
48%
47%
39%

“It is still the woman of the household who
initiates the purchase process by identifying
the need for an appliance,” says Kamal Nandi,
business head and executive vice president of
Godrej Appliances. “Hence, the role of a woman
is critical …. Their role is as vital as that of a male
in the family in the decision-making process.”
Our survey data confirm this point. In electronics
purchases, for example, only 36% of women say
they have control of the budget, but another 54%
say they are involved in decision-making in this
category. In other words, 90% of women have
influence over purchases of electronics by the
household.
Retailers, especially in consumer goods and
apparel, have been quick to recognise, and benefit
from, an increasingly prosperous and assertive
Asian female consumer. Andreas Faahs, CMO
and vice president at Amway Japan, says around
73% of customers are female, as well as a similar
percentage of its independent ‘business owners’
or distributors—who in turn contribute to family
finances and fuel more purchases. “The 35 years
since Amway first arrived in Japan have seen many
women entrepreneurs born via Amway business.”
“Women are driving our business,” says Andrew
Keith, president of department store operator
Lane Crawford, which has properties in its home
base of Hong Kong and mainland China. Keith
estimates women account for almost 80% of Lane
Crawford’s customer base, and says segments
like women’s wear are outperforming the overall
market with double-digit annual growth rates.

The shifting nature of retail
2
As the regional retail industry adjusts to
reflect women’s increased buying power, it is
simultaneously undergoing a more profound shift
from the traditional to the online environment—
and indeed one change may be supporting the
other. Asia-Pacific will leapfrog North America to
become the world’s largest e-commerce market
this year, according to digital marketing research
firm eMarketer, with online business to consumer
(B2C) sales likely to top US$525bn. Vast online
marketplaces such as Japan’s Rakuten and South
Korea’s Coupang have emerged that are tempting
shoppers with a dazzling array of goods in every
category and piquing the interest of investors.
Traditional retailers are also busily expanding
their Internet storefronts, sometimes gaining
customers in far-off markets where they lack a
physical presence.
Given the enthusiasm with which Asian women
have taken to shopping online, this may be a case
of the retail industry adapting or dying. Among
survey respondents, 63% browse the Internet
at least every day for products and services,
with nearly 30% doing so twice or more per day.
Just under 80% of women regionally buy some
groceries online (just over 20% buy the majority
of their groceries online); the figure rises to
83% for cosmetics and nearly 90% for clothing
and accessories (29% buy the majority of their
cosmetics online, while 39% do the same for
clothing and accessories online). Perhaps most
troubling for retailers focused on the brick-
and-mortar business, nearly half—49%—of
women polled agreed or strongly agreed that
they preferred the experience of shopping
online to doing so in stores. The rate climbed to
53% among the youngest (18-29) demographic
surveyed. Some 43% reported spending more
money online than they do in physical shops;
again the rates among those 18-29 and 30-39
were even higher. This may be connected to the
typical lack of youthful restraint; over half of
women 18-29 agreed that they were more likely
to buy impulsively online, versus around 40% of
older women. Younger women were also more
likely to agree they spent too much online.
And at least on the Internet, Asian women don’t
seem to be living up to the stereotype of selfless,
family-focused housewives. Over 62% of women
are buying for themselves most of the time when
shopping online; in mainland China that rate
rises to 74%, and to 77% among 18-29 year olds.
In South Korea and India, however, women said
they were almost as likely to be buying for their
children or family. Buying for friends or peers
is not as popular as family members—women in
India were most likely to do so, with 15% saying
that they most often buy for friends, while only
6% of women in mainland China said they bought
the most for their friends.
These trends are requiring many retailers to
pursue what Mr Keith of Lane Crawford terms a
“connected commerce” strategy, simultaneously
investing in physical properties in major
regional hubs and building out digital flagship
stores capable of catering to customers across
borders. “This is essential going forward because
our customers are highly mobile, travelling
around a very large, diverse region. We need

Regionally, 63% of women browse for products and services at least once per day
(% respondents)
Japan
Mainland China
South Korea
India
Hong Kong
Singapore
Taiwan
Macau
Online habits
77%
65%
64%
57%
52%
49%
44%
23%
Regionally, 49% of women said they prefer online shopping to offline
(% respondents)
Taiwan
India
Macau
Mainland China
South Korea
Singapore
Hong Kong
Japan
69%
57%
55%
51%
50%
30%
29%
18%
to be connected with them, wherever they are,
whenever they choose, and that experience has
to be seamless.”
Mr Keith says Lane Crawford sees online and
physical retail as complimentary rather than
competing forces. “We have customers visiting
our stores in Hong Kong from mainland
China, Taiwan, Macau, Japan, the Philippines,
Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia,
enjoying the experience and then returning
home and continuing to shop frequently with
us online.” Around 10% of the firm’s Hong
Kong online orders come from mainland China
customers who arrange to collect their shipments
when they visit the city, attracted by a wider
selection and sometimes lower prices.
“You see more and more consumers who are
looking for an ‘omni-channel experience’—more
and more women are in stores and are actually
checking on their mobile what the better price
is that they can get elsewhere … or looking for
different styles (and sizes),” says Ms de Gramont.
The appetite for online shopping transcends
nationality. But unsurprisingly given the region’s
diversity, it takes varying shapes. Asia’s largest

economy, mainland China, is also the region’s
online shopping champion. Mainland China
displaced the United States as the world’s largest
online shopping market last year, nearing
US$300bn in value, and will more than double
by 2016, according to China-based iResearch.
“Online shopping in [mainland] China has already
partly replaced offline shopping. (It’s) become a
part of daily life,” says iResearch senior analyst
Jodie Ding. Among Chinese women surveyed,
69% preferred online to offline shopping, and
63% classed online shopping among their
favourite past times—both the highest rates in
the region. Consumers in Taiwan and Macau were
similarly enthusiastic.
Analysts like iResearch say e-commerce’s
exceptional trajectory in mainland China is a
function of convenience—thanks to the explosion
of the mobile Internet—quick, effective delivery
networks and the user-friendly payment systems
set up by local web giants. Cost is also a major
contributor. “In lower-tier cities, you can buy
stuff cheaper online than at stores in town,” says
Ms Ding.
Jigsaw’s Ms de Gramont also credits the range
of choice that vast online marketplaces have
ushered in. “Online shopping in [Mainland] China
is very important because in big cities you have
a huge selection of premium products and a lot
of cheaper quality stuff, but not much mid-range
choice. They have access to every luxury brand
in the world now, but they’re more expensive. So
if you’re looking for luxury products, people buy
online because they’re much better value. Also
for more mid-range apparel, there is much more
variety online compared to what they can find in
the shopping malls.”
The presence of bargains is one of the main
motivators for online shopping not only in
mainland China, but also throughout Asia. Across
the region 62% strongly or somewhat agreed
that shopping online gets them the best prices.
The rates of agreement were highest—around
70%—in mainland China and South Korea, both
relatively large and well-developed e-commerce
markets.
Women—58%—cited saving time as another
key benefit of shopping online, especially
in mainland China and India, where traffic
congestion and infrastructure-related delays
are common even in leading cities. This was
less of a factor for women in high-efficiency
Japan and Hong Kong, where only 40% and
49% of women said they shopped online to save
time, respectively. Time was a more important
motivator for married women and working
women, with around 60% of each group agreeing
or strongly agreeing they shopped online to save
time, versus 54% of single women.
(% respondents)
Because there is a wider choice
of products
Because they know the products
will be available
To save time
They get the best price online
For the convenience of having
gifts sent
To get products from abroad
Why they shop online
62%
60%
59%
56%
51%
36%

Availability and choice of
products also contributes
to online retail’s allure,
again for Chinese
and Indian women in
particular. Seventy-six per
cent of Chinese women,
and 62% of Indian women,
agreed or strongly agreed
that they shopped online
because they knew the
goods they wanted would
be available. A majority
of women in mainland
China, Taiwan, Macau, India and South Korea
also agreed there were more choices of products
online than in shops where they lived.
In India, “online shopping brings you options
and availability of items that you can’t get
locally. That’s the big thing that I think people
are attracted to,” explains Ms Purushothaman.
“We’ve heard anecdotally that for some
businesses, it’s Tier 2 and Tier 3 towns where
we’re seeing a huge amount of interest because
people have income and they want to dress a
certain kind of way, but they’re not able to find
those kinds of things; they have to find them
online. So all of a sudden some of these groups
have to quickly work out how to supply these
semi-urban areas.”
The shift to online shopping may also have to
do with what a number of women see as the
less pleasant aspects of the traditional retail
environment. Regionally almost half of those
polled said they felt pressured to buy goods in
stores, but not online, and a quarter agreed or
strongly agreed that staff “talked down” to them
because of their gender when they bought some
products in physical shops. Sales pressure is felt
most keenly in Macau, India and South Korea, and
Macau and India also had the highest proportions
of women who felt patronised in the traditional
retail environment at 47% and 42%, respectively.
According to Arvind Singhal, chairman of Indian
retail consulting firm Technopak Advisors,
the relatively high number of women feeling
uncomfortable in stores there may have less to do
with inherent cultural issues than the country’s
size and heterogeneous nature, as well as the
relatively recent emergence of a more organised
retail environment. This, he believes, has created
a significant e-commerce opportunity.
“Online shopping is a great leveler. For those
consumers who may feel uncomfortable,
overwhelmed or ‘out of place’ in brick-and-
mortar formats, online shopping can provide
comfort, confidence and empowerment,” he
says. “Of course, brick and mortar retailers
also need to wake up and address these softer
issues by closely monitoring their store staff
behavior across different consumer profiles and
imparting adequate training to ensure all types of
consumers are made to feel comfortable in their
shopping environment.”
While online shopping has clearly taken off
throughout the region, women in some markets
seem to be embracing it less than those in others.
Notable outliers include Hong Kong, Singapore
and especially Japan, where only 18% of women
said they preferred online shopping to shopping
in stores—the lowest rate in the region. This may
be partly explained by the physical density of
these markets, which ensures retail experiences
are within relatively easy reach, as well as their
sophistication in terms of the range of goods on
offer. Only 38% of Hong Kong women and 30%
of Japanese women felt there was more choice
of products online than in the stores where they
live, for example.
“I think that since the retail market in Japan
is hugely developed it is so easy to just go pick
things up, and so online shopping isn’t so
popular,” says Torsten Stocker, partner, Consumer
Goods Retail at A.T. Kearney.
54%
39%
Safety
of women with children
at home say shopping online enables
them to buy safe products for their children
of women with children in India
and China agree

Though Japan remains one of the most connected
and sophisticated e-commerce markets in Asia,
analysts have cited the country’s emphasis
on personal relationships and hospitality,
and a cultural distaste for debt—which makes
some hesitant to use credit cards—as other
possible barriers to the adoption of online
48% of women feel pressured to buy in stores and stressed, but do not feel this way online
(% respondents)
Mainland China
India
South Korea
Macau
Taiwan
Japan
Singapore
Hong Kong
Under pressure
60%
54%
53%
50%
48%
41%
39%
29%
27% of women feel that store staff talk down to them because they are women
(% respondents)
Taiwan
Mainland China
India
Macau
Hong Kong
Singapore
South Korea
Japan
47%
42%
38%
20%
18%
17%
14%
11%
retail. Japanese women may also be reluctant
to splash out online with money they don’t
earn. Nearly half of Japanese women surveyed
were housewives, the highest proportion in the
region, and only 21% classified themselves as
sole or joint breadwinners in their households,
the lowest rate among markets surveyed.

The broad growth trend of Asia’s e-commerce
market also disguises a wide variety of shopping
methods and predilections, making the
formulation of a truly regional retail approach
difficult. Overall, women in Asia shop most
frequently at home, either on their PCs (78%), or
smartphones (45%) and tablets (25%). Younger
women and those in mainland China are the most
inclined towards mobile shopping with 58% of
18-29 years old using their smartphones to shop
online at home, for example. Fifty-four percent
of mainland Chinese women reported shopping
on their phones. This has made it more important
for online retailers to develop mobile-optimised
sites and payment systems.
“Female shoppers make up approximately 45%
of Lazada’s customer base in the region and
this share is similar when looking at purchases
from mobile devices only, which suggests that
there are a significant number of tech-savvy
professional women who like to shop on the
go,” says Maximilian Bittner, CEO of Southeast
Asia-focused Lazada Group, which sells a wide
range of electronics, fashion and lifestyle brands
via its network of websites. He says the firm is
“constantly” tweaking its mobile site in order to
enhance the mobile shopping experience, and
is also connecting to consumers via mobile apps
like messaging service LINE.
More than half of Lane Crawford’s online
customers worldwide access its e-shop through
mobile devices, according to Mr Keith. “We have
98% mobile coverage of our customer database
How women buy3
and it is the preferred channel through which we
communicate to our customers.”
Even in Japan, where a mere 19% of women
shop online with smartphones at home,
retailers are developing mobile-centric Internet
strategies. “We’re focusing on smartphones
and (social networking services) as we consider
a next-generation digital business platform,”
says Amway Japan’s Mr Faahs. “It’s essential
that we transition to a touch (user interface)
that improves both operability and visibility.”
Enhancements to its e-commerce system in
the works include larger character fonts and
the minimisation of steps needed for users to
complete orders.
Mobility in online shopping also means women
are increasingly shopping anywhere and
everywhere. Perhaps of interest to some of the
region’s employers, 28% say they shopped online
via PCs at work—with the figure rising to 40% in
mainland China. Just under 30% also say they
shop online in bed at night.
Mainland Chinese women were also far more
likely to shop online in the company of others.
Nearly three-quarters of those surveyed said they
regularly shopped online with friends, whereas
in most other Asian markets only a minority of
women agreed with the same statement. This
makes online shopping in mainland China a
communal practice, and vendors should tailor
their online stores accordingly by incorporating
functions that allow communities and discussions

to form around products, says Jigsaw’s Ms de
Gramont.
“Chinese women view shopping in general as a
social activity. Chinese women go out shopping,
including window-shopping, much more
frequently than the average American woman, for
example … there’s a very important social media
element to online shopping, e.g., customer
reviews and reviews of other like-minded women,
because that’s really what they trust most.
Successful e-commerce websites should have a
social component because women do like sharing
with their friends, but also being able to have
some sort of community or discussion about the
product and what they’re buying brings a lot of
quality assurance.”
Asia’s women turn to the Internet to find a
broad spectrum of goods, but it is in apparel
and fashion that online shopping appears to be
displacing traditional retail the most. Regionally,
89% of women said they bought at least some
clothing and accessories online, with 39%
reporting that they make a majority of purchases
online. Maternity and children’s products and
Percentage of women buying at least some products online, by category
(% respondents)
Groceries
Cosmetics
Maternity and children’s products*
Home products
Electronics
Travel leisure services
Furniture
* % of women among those between 18-39 years of age with children
What women buy online
89%
87%
83%
78%
78%
76%
75%
56%
Percentage of women buying at least some groceries online
(% respondents)
India
Taiwan
South Korea
Mainland China
Japan
Hong Kong
Macau
Singapore
90%
88%
85%
76%
65%
60%
50%
44%

cosmetics are also frequently bought online.
Online shopping for furniture is generally less
common, with only 6% buying online.
Rates of online shopping tend to be higher,
therefore, for product categories where women
tend to control the household budget—and
where purchasing decisions tend to be driven
by brand, or personal feelings, rather than
price. While most women cited price as the main
factor when selecting groceries, furniture or
home products, their motivations for picking
goods that are typically for their own rather than
household use are quite different.
When selecting clothing, 41% of women said
their personal feelings were the main factor. This
was particularly true for women in Japan—where
the rate was 51%—as well as South Korea, Hong
Kong and Taiwan. Brand power, however, counted
for more in purchases of cosmetics—cited by
50% of women as the most important factor—as
well as electronics and maternity or children’s
products. Mainland Chinese women appeared to
be particularly brand-conscious, with 66% basing
cosmetic purchases on brands, for example.
“(In mainland China) knowledge about brands
is almost a form of social currency … because all
the brands have come in so quickly, it’s almost
like there’s a pressure to find out what they’re all
about,” explains Jigsaw’s Ms de Gramont.
Women in India also often take a brand’s status
into consideration, but prices generally play a
larger role in buying decisions than they do in
mainland China.
“Traditionally, the female head of household
would see (shopping) as her responsibility and
Which factors are most important in buying decisions?
Brand vs price vs personal feelings
(% respondents)
Buying decisions
Personal feelings Brand
Price
26%
28%
46%
Groceries
Price
24%
41%
35%
Price
50%
25%
25%
Cosmetics
Price
52%
16%
32%
Electronics

her contribution to the overall family, so she
would save as much as possible—get it cheaper,
faster and better. So women’s shopping habits
traditionally have a lot to do with negotiation,
informal pricing, relationships, and a lot of back
and forth and time spent to get to the right
price,” says Ms Purushothaman.
“Indian women will shop for styles, range, price
and/or a combination, and therefore show less
affinity towards a certain brand. They may be
brand conscious but may not be brand loyal,”
says Mr Singhal of Technopak. “A large population
of Indian women are homemakers and this adds
a different dimension to some of the shopping
trends. Managing the expense budget of the
family becomes a key responsibility and this gets
reflected in Indian women shoppers being value
seekers and bargain hunters.”
Women in South Korea, Japan and Singapore
seemed by far the least motivated by brands
overall. Only a quarter of Japanese women
cited brand as the most important factor when
selecting cosmetics, for example, a highly brand-
controlled segment in other Asian markets. In
Singapore, just 9% of women felt brand played
the main role in clothes buying decisions—price
was a far greater consideration.
Purchasing motivations also vary depending on
demographics. Among women surveyed, married
women seemed more brand-driven than single
women, while single women were more likely to
be swayed by personal feelings. Younger women
also appeared more brand-sensitive, with 52% of
30-39 year olds citing brand as the main factor in
cosmetic purchases and 56% as the main factor in
electronics purchases, higher than the rates for
40-60 year olds in both categories.
“I think there’s also a mindset among [mainland]
Chinese women from their 20s to their 40s, that
spending on themselves as they’re entering the
workforce is a long-term investment in their
image … spending on themselves can help them
advance socially and career-wise, especially when
you’re talking about luxury products and branded
accessories,” Ms de Gramont says.
The brand consciousness of the young female
demographic has convinced some major
technology companies to adopt more fashion
cues into their product design and marketing
approaches. Hyon-Ju Cho, vice president and
team leader of Samsung Electronics’ Marketing
Service Team, says young women represent an
“important target” for the firm. “Samsung is
collaborating and will expand partnerships with
fashion brands such as Swarovski phone covers
and (Galaxy) Gear charms to deliver mobile
accessories targeting female consumers.”
Unsurprisingly, brand sensitivity has an impact
on Asian women’s online shopping preferences.
Regionally 70% of women said the presence of
good brands or branded products somewhat or
very important when choosing an online retailer.
Overall, however, they were even more concerned
with finding the best prices, which 83% cited
as important or very important, and whether
the products on offer are genuine and of good
quality. These views were broadly consistent
throughout the region, making it important for
online retailers who deal in various brands to
strive for the most extensive and reputable range
possible.
“Lazada is constantly striving to give our
customers access to the widest possible
selection of products,” says Mr Bittner. “We are
continuously working with vendors to make
assortment from these markets available to
consumers in Southeast Asia.”
“Women are more adventurous in seeking out
new brands and product so we have a much larger
(women’s) brand portfolio to shop from online
(than in stores),” says Mr Keith of Lane Crawford.
Social circles also play an important role in
steering women towards certain e-commerce
sites. Thirty per cent of women said they
typically first discover an online retailer through

friends or word of mouth, and over half viewed
friends’ recommendations as important or very
important. The advice of friends was viewed as
particularly important in India and mainland
China. Women in mainland China were also
most likely to lend credence to reviews of online
retailers on forums or blogs, again highlighting
the social characteristics of the country’s
e-commerce landscape that analysts say make
online shopping such a compelling proposition.
These traits have made positive online comments
one of the most valuable currencies in mainland
China’s brand landscape, and encouraged some
unique promotional techniques. Mainland-
focused shoe and accessory maker Le Saunda, for
example, sometimes offers points and bonuses
that can be applied to future purchases to online
customers who ‘like’ or praise its products. “A lot
of customers are willing to post their comments
on our websites or other platforms,” says CEO
Alice Lau. “Positive comments and word of mouth
from customers is very important, not just
concentrating on promoting your brand image.”

Online retail has given women throughout Asia
access to a greater range of goods than ever
before, including imported brands that may have
previously been entirely inaccessible or all but
unknown outside a few urban fashion circles. On
the one hand this represents a stellar opportunity
for brands and retailers, enabling them to extend
their presence to markets where they don’t have
physical operations.
“Extending online to a digital flagship enables
us to cover all of [mainland] China and Asia,
expanding our reach into new markets,” says Mr.
Keith of Lane Crawford. “The online store has
been very effective in cultivating new customer
Global vs local
4
bases and very strong sales growth across Asia
Pacific and most notably in Australia, Japan,
Singapore, Korea and Taiwan.”
On the other hand, this can increase the
competitive pressure on local brands that
previously enjoyed a privileged market position
because of a relative lack of alternatives. The
results of our survey indicate local brands may
have to do more to raise their game. Regionally
36% of women agreed or strongly agreed that
they shop online specifically to get products from
overseas, and 41% said they bought products
from abroad because they were better than those
produced domestically—rising to 45% among
Percentage of women who agree or strongly agree
(% respondents)
I get more choice
Purchasing certain products abroad saves money
I purchase products that are not available at home
Products are better quality
It helps me keep abreast of trends
Products from abroad suit me better
Buying from abroad
56%
47%
47%
41%
38%
32%
I buy from abroad because ...
Having to pay extra taxes
Delivery times
Delivery costs 66%
64%
59%
But I am concerned about ...

those age 18-29. This perceived quality gap was
especially pronounced in Macau and mainland
China, where 53% and 63% of women respectively
saw products from abroad as superior. Analysts
say this is partially a result of the safety issues
that have surfaced in mainland China’s supply
chain at regular intervals in recent years, but
also points to a bigger issue with local brands
struggling to win over increasingly demanding
Chinese consumers.
“Quality and trust are the fundamental issues
(Chinese brands are) facing. If they want to
be successful, they need to know how to grow
beyond their own market, (but) a lot of Chinese
brands are well known in [mainland] China but
not known in the global market,” says Linda Du,
Shanghai managing director of communications
and strategy firm APCO Worldwide. “That
really limits their strength and power because
consumers definitely want products that have a
global reputation.”
“The challenge is that [mainland] Chinese
consumers are still skeptical of local brands,
especially from a quality standpoint,” says Ms de
Gramont of Jigsaw. “Not many local brands have
really been able to build a true brand in terms of
the story behind the brand and what they stand
for. A lot of it is just development stage; I think
that it will come. A lot of brands had not been
marketing focused until quite recently, they’d
been sales and distribution focused.”
Women are also motivated to buy imports
online because they are unavailable at home,
and frequently because they are cheaper.
Price sensitivity was especially apparent in
comparatively high-cost South Korea and
Singapore, where 57% and 58% of women
respectively said purchasing some products from
abroad helped them save money.
Overall, however, women citing brand as an
important factor in purchasing decisions tended
to gravitate towards the local in most product
categories. Regionally 89% who felt brand was
important favoured local grocery brands and
66% domestic clothing brands. This is most
likely explained by the unique dietary habits
of each country, as well as clothing styles and
particularly sizing issues—few Western apparel
makers cater for smaller Asian sizes, and vice
versa. The notable exceptions were electronics
and cosmetics, where only 52% and 43% said
they preferred local names.
For cosmetics branding in India “you rarely see
an Indian face in advertising, and you’ll always
see that the selling point is that it’s from some
other country outside of India because makeup
in particular is seen within India that the quality
isn’t very good,” says Ms Purushothaman of
Everstone Capital Advisors.
South Korean and Japanese women appear to
be the most consistently loyal local consumers.
Eighty-one percent of Japanese women and 70%
of South Korean women prefer local cosmetics
brands, and 97% and 94% respectively prefer
local electronics products, by far the highest
proportions in the region—thanks no doubt in part
to the presence of home-grown, globally feted
brands like Laneige and Sony in both categories.
Local brands can take some comfort in the fact
that infrastructure limitations and red tape look
likely to temper the influx of imports in many
markets. Regionally, 66% of women agreed or
strongly agreed that delivery times were a concern
when making purchases from abroad, and 64%
were concerned about delivery costs. While a lower
proportion were worried about having to pay extra
taxes on overseas purchases, this is a significant
potential barrier in mainland China and Taiwan,
where 66% and 68% of women respectively cited
taxes as a concern. The emergence of services
like Borderfree, which partners with major US
retailers to offer discount shipping and package-
forwarding to destinations around the globe, may
go some way to addressing women’s delivery cost
concerns, but taxes or duties can’t be avoided by
even the most innovative vendors.

With Asian women now able to take their pick
from a truly global array of retail and product
options, brands must work harder than ever to
build connections and loyalty with their buyers.
In some ways the online retail environment has
made this more difficult, lacking the possibilities
for camaraderie and physical interaction with
goods that exist in brick-and-mortar stores.
“It’s worth keeping in mind that the
modernisation of the Indian retail business is
happening significantly offline, and the social
and experiential element of retail remains a
strong driver for women,” points out Devangshu
Dutta, chief executive at consumer consulting
firm Third Eyesight.
At the same time, mining online transaction data
can provide retailers with a new level of insight
into customer preferences and behaviour. While
using data to build customer profiles can come
across as invasive in more privacy-sensitive
consumer markets, overall Asian women seem
appreciative of efforts to personalise the online
shopping experience.
Asked how online shops could best win their trust
and loyalty, 64% said efforts to understand their
profile and tailor offerings to their individual
needs were appealing or strongly appealing, the
highest rate among all options. Personalisation
was especially valued in mainland China, where
80% of women found it appealing or very
appealing, but the rate dropped to 42% in Japan.
Similarly, 57% of women regionally appreciated
communications from retailers that reflected
their profiles and respected their lifestyle and
Connecting with the new Asian
female consumer5
product preferences. That compared to just 45%
and 49% saying the same regarding newsletters
and regular advertising, respectively.
Mainland Chinese women, particularly of
the younger generation, “don’t like to read
magazines and be told what to buy from an
advertisement—the old fashioned ‘this is a
famous brand you should like’ approach,”
says Mao Tong-yi, China general manager for
GRI Group, which manages multiple imported
clothing brands on the mainland. “They prefer to
see a discussion around a product or brand.”
Asian women also seem willing to volunteer
information to online retailers. Referring to
websites where a good range of quality branded
goods were available, 44% said they would sign
up or register their preferences so they could be
alerted to relevant offers and sales. In India and
mainland China, the rates were 57% and 63%
respectively.
Online vendors have moved quickly to apply the
information they garner from their customers,
and many are already factoring the unique traits
or trends that emerge into their marketing
campaigns. Mr Bittner of Lazada gives an
example from Singapore. “Female shoppers in
Singapore seem to have a preference to shop
in the evening, unlike their neighbours in the
region where shopping in the afternoon is
more common,” he explains. “As such, targeted
promotions published on Facebook in Singapore
tend to be scheduled later in the day than in
many of our other markets.”

Lane Crawford, meanwhile, reaches out to women
with personalised communications that highlight
new products, brands or content likely to pique
their interest, garnering a “significant response,”
Mr Keith says. The retailer also employs an army
of “personal stylists” that can work with shoppers
online on “recommending new products, pulling
together total looks, finding a special piece for
a specific occasion, building on their wardrobe
season after season—whatever the customer
wants.”
Product makers are also emphasising the
personalised approach. India’s Godrej Appliances
is focusing on digital marketing, differentiating
and targeting online customers through specific
communication, says Mr Nandi. “(Women) being
our core target, we are especially reaching out
to them through social media, search engine
marketing, banner advertising, retargeting and
other online means.”
Samsung Electronics, meanwhile, connects with
women via both proprietary and mass online
shopping sites, and even factors customer
preferences into product design, says Ms Cho.
“Samsung makes a great effort to tailor its
products for women (and men) based on the
needs of local markets and consumers. For
instance in India, Samsung ensures that its home
appliances can fit into their distinctive housing
environments and reflects Indian women’s taste,
putting emphasis on various colours as well as
exterior pattern design. [Mainland] Chinese
women place the importance on their family
as well as health. At the same time, they show
higher interest in following global trends and
celebrities’ lifestyle. Samsung utilizes these
points in marketing activities.”
Asian women are also highly receptive to loyalty
rewards programmes, with 61% saying they
Percentage of women who found each option somewhat or strongly appealing
(% respondents)
Alerts for latest offers
Loyalty rewards
Understanding my profile and
tailoring to my individual needs
Communications that reflect the profile I give to
stores in respect to my lifestyle and products
Communications that respect me as an independent,
intelligent consumer (ie does not address me as a
wife/mother/girlfriend)
Communications that consider
my life situation and status as a woman
(ie, that I am a wife/mother/girlfriend)
Store’s advertising to remind me of their presence
Newsletters
Which forms of communication from online retailers appeal to you?
64%
61%
60%
57%
56%
54%
50%
45%

found such programmes appealing or strongly
appealing. And retailers are again creating
initiatives to match. Lane Crawford runs a
“Privilege Programme” across its online and
physical stores that rewards repeat customers,
according to Mr Keith. “Women have a higher rate
of participation and therefore redemption for
their spending.”
When asked about the communication
approaches they prefer, women’s responses
were mixed. Regionally 56% said they find
communication that speaks to them as
independent, intelligent consumers—that is,
not a wife, mother or girlfriend—appealing
or strongly appealing. However, 54% said
the same about messages that considered
their life situation and status as women—ie,
as wives, mothers and girlfriends. Women in
mainland China, Taiwan and India showed a
slight preference to be spoken to as individuals.
Japanese women were the most indifferent, with
the majority saying they found both approaches
neither appealing nor unappealing.
In the view of spirits giant Diageo, these hybrid
preferences are less a sign of contradictions than
more complex realities. Asian women increasingly
have it all—in terms of income, choices, roles and
responsibilities.
“We say that ‘cream with spirit’, which is what
Baileys is, reflects women’s reality,” says Lavinia
Tong, marketing director at Diageo China,
referring to the firm’s iconic Baileys cream-based
liqueur, which is targeted towards women. “They
are working full time but are also worried about
style, elegance. They are independent but family
values are also important to them. They want to
be good wives, daughters, mothers—that’s the
cream. At the same time they are confident and
have career ambitions—that’s the spirit. Women
are all sorts of things, and we celebrate them all.”
Baileys was launched in Ireland in 1974, aimed at
“modern, empowered women”. It was launched
in mainland China in 2008, and Diageo stepped
up the marketing campaign in 2012. It has used
the basic “cream with spirit” messaging in its
approach to women on a global level. In mainland
China, however, it has added another layer—
guimi, or sisterhood. “Many in our target market
are single children because of China’s one-child
policy,” explains Ms Tong. “So their female
friends are their family. So we use the concept of
sisterhood to speak to them. Baileys is something
you should enjoy while with your sisters.” Its
strategy has clearly gained traction: in the fiscal
year ending in June 2014, sales of Baileys in
China grew 20% year-on-year.
The types of messaging preferred also no doubt
depend on the product category (women
buying children’s clothing no doubt expect to
be addressed as mothers). Overall, however,
the high levels of appreciation for tailored
and personalised communication is a firm
indication Asian women value being approached
as independent individuals. Efforts to speak
to women as a whole, particularly if based on
assumptions about their roles and interests,
can backfire. In Western markets, for example,
brands are increasingly sensitive to criticism
that they use only ultra-thin, beautiful models
in their advertising, contributing to self-esteem
issues amongst young women who do not live up
to this image. But such sensitivities do not seem
as pronounced in Asia. Skin care brand Dove’s
initial attempts to replicate its highly successful
“Campaign for Real Beauty,” which features
real women with varying physiques as models,
in Japan and mainland China floundered, with
marketing specialists citing its failure to take into
account more exacting beauty standards and a
cultural preference for the less direct.
Lane Crawford’s customers across Asia are “on
a journey of self-expression which is really just
beginning,” says Mr Keith. “And they’re having
fun with it.”
Ms Purushothaman believes that in India—where
many products that tend to be bought by women,

such as cosmetics, are still sold or marketed by
men—brands could do very well by speaking to
women’s growing independence.
“There really aren’t brands that have spoken to
the young Indian woman consumer, playing up
on the empowerment they’re going through on
the ground here—for example they’re starting to
work in families where they never did before—so
I think there really is an opportunity for a brand
to capitalise on that and I’ve not seen anyone
do it very well. Mostly what they do is carry their
global marketing campaigns and bring them
here, but that’s not really the same thing.”
Appeals to independence are by no means
successful only with younger women. For Procter
Gamble beauty brand SK-II, in mainland China
the so-called ‘golden age’ women of 35 and
older are among the fastest-growing customer
demographics. While the company tends to reach
out to young women with mass social media-
driven marketing campaigns, it has found a
highly individualised approach more effective
with this segment, according to Iris Xuan, brand
direction manager at SK-II China. “We use VIP
club member data from banks or department
stores to create a very targeted, very high-
incentive offering,” she explains. “We’re more
focused on one-to-one communication, because
if we talk to the right person, the conversion rate
is quite high.”
Overall, however, analysts say the best way for
brands, local and foreign, to win Asian women
over is to stand for something compelling,
and to represent good value—and with a more
connected and sophisticated consumer, it’s
getting a lot harder to fake either.
“[Mainland] Chinese people’s English language
skills are much better than before, they travel
around the globe and they’re more adapted to
foreign cultures, so if you’re able to tell good
stories, if they can learn stories from either
global platforms or their friends and they buy
into your brand stories … that will influence
their purchasing decision,” says Ms Du of APCO
Worldwide.
Jigsaw’s Ms de Gramont points out that mainland
Chinese women now regularly compare prices on
online malls and brands’ dedicated websites—
sometimes on a global level. This makes the
still-common practice of luxury marques inflating
their prices or image on the mainland a risky
proposition.
“They come into [mainland] China and see the
opportunity that people want premium luxury
products, and they price themselves and position
themselves in that way. Consumers buy into it,
but more and more you hear consumers talking
about certain cosmetic brands and saying, ‘you
can buy it in a supermarket in the US, so why
is it being sold for US$40 in China, the exact
same thing?’ So be careful about how you’re
positioning yourself in China, because consumers
want to see more and more what you stand for in
your home market.”
For those looking to move beyond major
cities, the proposition is somewhat different.
Appliance maker Haier, based in mainland China,
has experimented with such things as special
washing machines for lingerie, but has now
decided to focus on women’s role in consumption
decisions, and how to cater for women in
different income brackets. While design is
more important than price or technology for
higher-income women, in mainland China’s
third and fourth-tier cities the situation is much
different. Annual disposable income ranges
from Rmb10,000 (US$1,634) to Rmb20,000, but
Haier has discovered that it can make substantial
sales by offering packages of several appliances
for women about to get married. “Rmb10,000
is a small number for a dowry, but three to four
home appliance items as a dowry is substantial
enough,” says Lixia Tan, senior vice president and
CFO of Haier.

Online shopping may be making massive strides
across Asia, but its advance will not go entirely
unimpeded. Physical stores benefit from unique
pull factors that continue to draw many women
in—like the opportunity to socialise or bargain,
or literally try something on for size— while
online retail has to confront a host of potential
issues that traditional retail largely does not.
With a business model based heavily on home
delivery, online retailers are highly reliant on
local transport infrastructure and logistics
networks, which are not always in optimum
condition. Regionally 20% of women surveyed
said they found it difficult to get products
delivered where they live—this is significant
considering that our survey was conducted
in major cities in the region. The rate was
significantly lower in highly developed South
Korea and Japan, but rose to 63% in Macau and
35% in India.
India suffers from “weak and inadequate last
mile delivery infrastructure,” says Mr Singhal
of Technopak. “Logistics, which is a key
component of order fulfillment, is challenging
given the geographical complexity, sub-optimal
infrastructure, and regulatory variations across
India … while we have seen considerable
progress in the past five years in terms of the
development of the B2C logistics ecosystem,
this still remains the biggest challenge in this
sector.” In India, the issue is often still one of
broadband connections, and of productive usage
of the Internet in general. Based on our research,
we estimate that only one in ten Indian women in
Barriers ahead?
6
our demographic profile use the Internet5
.
Online retailers must also contend with a
multitude of payment systems and associated
security concerns. “One barrier in perception
is that people want better security in online
shopping,” says Ms Du of APCO Worldwide.
“Security is more and more an issue among
customers, (who) consider whether it’s safe to
put my credit card or information on an online
platform.”
Varying payment standards are “one of the
biggest challenges in [mainland] China and
Asia,” says Mr Keith of Lane Crawford, requiring
substantial investment from online vendors.
“To transact online in [mainland] China, you
need multiple payment options. We are currently
working with more than 14 different payment
partners, and that might be normal in the rest of
the world but the reality in China is there are real
concerns around fraud and security of personal
data, so 14 took significant time.”
Relatively low credit card penetration is also
a drag on e-commerce in markets like India,
effectively locking women out of many overseas
shopping networks and requiring retailers to
adopt ‘cash on delivery’ services.
“This is stopping players from unlocking the
real e-tailing potential,” says Technopak’s Mr
Singhal—while adding that the recent rise in
mobile payment options presents a possible way
around this shortfall.
5
In conducting the survey,
respondents were screened
to ensure they were
Internet users. One in ten
respondents approached for
the survey confirmed that
they were Internet users.
This is in line with other
surveys conducted in India.

As our survey and this paper have shown, in
Asia the rise of online shopping is a genuinely
cross-cultural phenomenon, broadly embraced by
women from Seoul to Mumbai regardless of age
group and marital status. At the same time, much
like the region itself, the growth of e-commerce
encapsulates a vast diversity of trends, and a
‘one size fits all’ approach is unlikely to succeed.
In order to cultivate a regional customer base,
online retailers—particularly those selling
a variety of brands across multiple product
categories—will have to hone their product
mixes and marketing approaches carefully while
Conclusion: What does the future of
retail look like?
retaining a high degree of flexibility. This will be
a delicate, and difficult, dance that balances the
mainland Chinese thirst for imports with Japan’s
devotion to home-grown brands; India’s patchy
communications infrastructure and hyper-
connected South Korea; the younger women
mainly shopping for themselves and those more
inclined to buy for family members.
It’s a tall order, of course, requiring major
investments of time and resources, and some
companies may decide to concentrate on simply
serving their home base or a handful of especially
Percentage of women who agree or strongly agree
(% respondents)
Delivery costs
Whether products are genuine
Best price
Whether the products are good quality
Ease of use
Standard of after-sales service
Range of choice
Speed of delivery
Good brands/branded products
Breadth of offering, unexpected items
Reviews from forums/blogs
Recommendation of friend
What women look for when choosing an online retailer
83%
83%
82%
79%
77%
77%
74%
74%
70%
66%
61%
53%

promising markets. But in the picture of a diverse
and rapidly developing regional industry, some
consistent trends are clear. With the rise in
choices and sources of information has come a
more international consciousness; the image,
cost and quality of products are increasingly
measured according to global rather than local
standards.
What is notable—and what retailers may want
to keep in mind—is that although the rise in
women’s purchasing power and online shopping
are together reshaping retail, many of the trends
that are emerging are nothing new. Women still
place an immense amount of value on the advice
of friends and family. A good name counts for
more than just about anything. When choosing
an online retailer, women say price (83%) is
important or very important, but so are quality
(83%), genuine products (82%) and convenience
(77%).
Brands and retailers will also, however, have
to speak to the growing sense of independence
that has accompanied Asian women’s increasing
financial and—with many women marrying later,
if at all, and having fewer children—personal
autonomy. As this paper has shown, women
not only value, but also expect companies to be
aware of their individual tastes and preferences,
and to target them with communications,
products and promotions accordingly. Success is
therefore likely to come down to the classic retail
maxim of “know thy customer”—and better than
ever before. Thankfully, the data collection and
analysis possibilities that e-commerce presents
will provide a powerful tool for companies in this
effort.
Companies would do well to keep in mind that
all these trends appear set to accelerate, and
grow more prominent, as Asia’s younger crop of
female consumers comes of age. Women aged
18-29 are not only more likely to prefer online
retail, but are far more active shoppers on mobile
devices, and less likely to confine their browsing
to home or during their time off. The preference
for being addressed on a personal level is also
more pronounced among Asia’s younger women.
They are more inclined to impulse buying, and
more dedicated users of social media, especially
in markets like mainland China. Brands like Le
Saunda are already responding to these emerging
realities with innovative pop-up events and flash
sales broadcast on microblogs.
Of course, the basics—quality of products and
services—remain as critical to young consumers
as ever, and in developing the online aspects of
their business, there may be no need for retailers
to reinvent their strategies wholesale. But their
strategies must take into account the great
online shopping migration, and the expectations
of the women leading that charge.

While every effort has been taken to verify the accuracy
of this information, The Economist Intelligence Unit
Ltd. cannot accept any responsibility or liability
for reliance by any person on this report or any of
the information, opinions or conclusions set out
in this report.

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On the rise and online: Female consumers in Asia

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